Valentine's Day
by cece2087
Summary: Luby S13. Wrote for fanfiction challenge. One shot. It's Valentine's Day and Luka and Abby are working though Abby wishes she could just be at home with her family.


Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters. They are all property of Warner Brothers, NBC and the people of ER.

I wrote this for a fanfiction challenge at TDWD and it takes place in S13 with all the characters present standings. It's a Luby fic!!

An arctic wind blew fiercely as Abby strolled through the crowd on the El platform. As she moved between the late morning commuters she pulled her coat tight around her body trying to capture any heat she could. The yearly Chicago winter was here; temperatures were well below freezing and it had started snowing last night and hadn't stopped. With at least a foot of snow on the ground and the icy wind blowing harsh against her, it made for one heck of a morning. Luka's shift had started two hours earlier so he left while she was still feeding Joe his breakfast. Joe had also chosen this morning to be particularly fussy and was not happy when she dropped him off at the babysitters on her way into work.

'Why do we have to work on Valentine's Day?' Abby mumbled to herself, frustrated that she and Luka couldn't have had the day off to spend with Joe as a family. In past years she wouldn't have minded working the Valentine's Day shift as she had no one to spend it with, but this year was different; she had Luka and they had their son. Hearing ambulance sirens in the distance Abby hustled through the bay hoping to get inside before being stuck with the patient. At least she could warm up and take off her coat before having to start the shift.

Entering Admin, Abby saw Frank with his typical box of donuts sitting next to him. "Hi Frank," she said sullenly walking by.

"Hey, where's the love Abby? It is Valentine's Day after all."

"Shut up, Frank," she responded while walking toward the lounge, slowly unbuttoning her coat. 'This is going to be a wonderful day,' she sarcastically thought.

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"Hey Abby, there's a trauma coming in, possible MI, ETA five minutes," Sam called as Abby passed to place a chart in the dispo pile and erase her patient from the board.

"Ok, thanks Sam. Can you grab Ray or Morris to help as well?"

"Sure," Sam replied, walking off to find either one and prepare the trauma room.

Overviewing the board and glancing through the charts waiting to be seen, Abby felt someone approach from behind. "Hey you," a voice she quickly recognized as Luka whispered in her ear.

"Hey yourself," she responded while still fishing through the charts. "Want to help me with a possible MI coming in. It will be here in a minute," She said turning to face him.

"Oooh, as much as that sounds like fun, I think I'll have to pass."

"Aww, come on. It seems like sharing patients is going to be the only way we'll get to spend Valentine's Day together."

"I can't, I'm sorry. I've got a GI bleeder that's waiting on a consult and a patient in CT who should be back any second. We can do it later…"

"Yeah, when? Between all the patients that seem to be stacking up like crazy out there. I doubt the board will be clear by the end of the shift."

"What's the big deal? It's just Valentine's Day. A holiday created by Hallmark."

"Yeah, but it's a day that we could be spending together with our son if we both didn't have to work."

"I'm sorry….Ok, I promise you that before the night's over, we'll have some sort of Valentine's Day celebration."

Pausing, Abby looked down and then back up to Luka. "Alright. But you better not back out of this one."

"I won't. Fingers crossed," he said holding up his hand in front of her face. "By the way, you're trauma's just pulled up."

"Ugh, thanks. See you around," Abby replied as she hustled off to treat the older gentleman laying on the gurney, hand over his chest.

"What have we got?" she asked, looking up and seeing Luka walk slowly away from where they had been talking. 'What in the world was he going to come up with by tonight? And in this weather.' she thought as his figure strolled into Exam 2.

"Jason Wallace, 55 year old male. Collapsed with LOC in his office conference room. Complains of left-sided chest pain." Before Pickman could finish giving Mr. Wallace's stats, all the lights in the hospital suddenly went dark.

"Oh great," Abby yelled, stopping the gurney from being pushed any farther down the hall. The back up generator should be turning on any minute, however, if this was a big power outage it might affect their ability to treat patients with the best care. Just as she predicted, dim lights began to fill the halls and rooms and monitors began to beep again. She continued to push Mr. Wallace down the hall, listening to Pickman finish his stats and turning him into Trauma 1. Inside, Ray was waiting expectantly along with Sam, Chuny and a few other nurses. Rolling the gurney next to the trauma bed Abby yelled, "Alright, on my count: 1, 2, 3."

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Five hours later the power still hadn't been recovered to its full capacity, no major traumas had come in and the last of the patients that were left had been finally brought back to the exam rooms. Although the lack of power had slowed things down in CT and Radiology, it magically helped clear the waiting room. The usual number of people left before being seen, but, there was also almost no new people who entered the ER. Abby however, even with the board cleared, still had another couple of hours to go on her shift.

Though she didn't see Luka much during the past hours, she knew he had stayed later to help clear out the patients and keep things moving. This meant that Joe had to stay at the sitters for a couple extra hours, something Abby felt bad about doing but knew that it came with the job and was always a risk with both her and Luka were working. Grabbing the pot of coffee in the lounge, she looked up at the time: 8:00. She was off at 10:00. Only and two hours to go. Taking a sip, she immediately regretted it as the cold liquid slipped down her throat. "Uggghh. This is disgusting!" she exclaimed aloud.

"Too bad those back up generators don't turn the coffee pot back on." Turning around, Abby saw Neela standing in the doorway, laughing to herself at Abby's predicament.

"No kidding. Hey, weren't you off an hour ago?"

"Yeah, but you know surgeons, they never have a break," she said leaning against the door frame looking more exhausted than ever.

"Is surgery backed up from the outage?" Abby inquired.

"No, not too bad. It was slow for a bit but then it picked up again. I see the board is clear down here."

"Yes, finally. It's been a long day."

"I can tell. You look like you just want to go home."

"I do. I want to take a hot shower, see and hug my little guy and then just lay in bed with the big guy."

"Sounds ideal. And I hate to burst your bubble, but there's a patient in sutures and Morris needs your help."

"Can't he get Ray, or Gates?" she asked,

"Nope, he specifically asked for you."

"Urgh. Alright, I'm coming," Abby replied angrily tossing her cold coffee into the trash while heading in the direction of Sutures.

Opening the door, Abby was ready to yell at Morris for not getting another doctor, however she gasped in surprise at the sight before her. Luka was sitting with Joe at a table made from an instrument cart in the middle of the room. The lights had been turned out and the four candles that had been lit were casting the only light upon their faces. Joe was in his red, fleece pajamas looking all ready for bed while Luka was looking very good in a red sweater and jeans. 'Much better than the scrub t-shirt he was wearing earlier,' Abby thought to herself.

"Happy Valentine's Day!" Luka said, picking Joe up and walking over to Abby. He gave her a light kiss and held out his hand. She grasped it and he walked them over to the table where plates with mini heart cakes, the kind one could buy at the Jumbo Mart, were waiting to be eaten. He sat her down and placed Joe in her lap, knowing all too well that she was dying to hold her son in her arms.

"Luka, how did you do this?" she asked, still dumbfounded that he had found the supplies and time to put this all together.

"I have my ways," he responded all the while smiling suspiciously at her. "But don't worry about that. Let's just enjoy this Valentine's Day together, as a family. And maybe later we can make it a more private celebration." Laughing, he stroked her cheek and then poked at Joe's nose. "What do you say Joe? Sound good?" he asked his childish voice. Feeling the finger on his face, Joe, who had already settled quite contently into Abby's arms, snuggled closer to his mother and was well on his way to sleep.

"I think he's all celebrated out. But, I will take you up on your offer of celebrating this together." She picked up her glass of water and held it up towards Luka. "Happy Valentine's Day, Luka."

"Happy Valentine's Day, Abby," he responded, clinking his glass against hers, knowing that he had more than fulfilled his promise to her.


End file.
